Container for ashes and embers of cigars and cigarettes

ABSTRACT

An improved container for ashes and embers of cigars and cigarettes enabling a lighted cigar or cigarette to be automatically extinguished, wherein a fire-extinguishing liquid such as water is held in the container. The container has an open upper end having a radially inner portion partially closing the same. An inner lid having a grooved convex surface is mounted on or engaged with a floating member, the floating member being made of material which has a lower specific gravity than that of the fire-extinguishing liquid, or being made hollow so as to be lighter than the fire-extinguishing liquid and having mesh or porous portions through which the fire-extinguishing liquid in the floating member runs out when the floating member is removed from the container.

United States Patent [191 Kobayakawa Nov. 18, 1975 Akira Kobayakawa, No. 43-14, Mutsukawa 3-Chome, Minami-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan 22' Filed: Feb. 13, 1974 [21] Appl. No.: 442,178

[76] Inventor:

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Nov. 28. 1973 Japan 48-136160 [52] US. Cl. 131/236 [51] Int. Cl. A24F 19/14 [58] Field of Search 131/236, 231, 256

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 468.325 2/1892 Brown 131/236 UX 1,699,160 l/1929 Roos 131/236 1,744,763 l/l930 Herrick 131/256 1,966,774 7/1934 Uitto 131/256 3.078.854 2/1963 Arthur 131/256 3,191,608 6/1965 Licata 131/256 3,635,225 l/l972 Andrews 131/236 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 506,313 9/1930 Germany 131/236 Primary E.\'aminerJ0seph S. Reich Attorney, Agent, or FirmFrank .1. Jordan [57] ABSTRACT An improved container for ashes and embers of cigars and cigarettes enabling a lighted cigar or cigarette to be automatically extinguished, wherein a tireextinguishing liquid such as water is held in the container. The container has an open upper end having a radially inner portion partially closing the same. An inner lid having a grooved convex surface is mounted on or engaged with a floating member, the floating member being made of material which has a lower specific gravity than that of the fire-extinguishing liquid, or being made hollow so as to be lighter than the fire-extinguishing liquid and having mesh or porous portions through which the fire-extinguishing liquid in the floating member runs out when the floating member is removed from the container.

7 Claims, 1 1 Drawing Figures US. Patent Nov. 18,1975 Sheet 1 of3 3,920,028

FIG.1

US. Patent N0v18,1975 Sheet2 0f3 3,920,028

US. Patent Nov. 18, 1975 Sheef30f3 3,920,028

FIG.7

I l nuw n ml l ml mn ......llllhl FIG.1O

FIG.8

CONTAINER FOR ASHES AND EMBERS OF. CIGARS AND CIGARETTES The present invention relates to an improved container for ashes and embers of cigars and cigarettes.

Most conventional containers of this type-generally called ash trays are in the shape of a tray, or are of the stand type which contain water andwhich can often be seen in waiting rooms. However, conventional ash trays, either of the tray type or the stand type have a drawback in that a lighted cigar or cigarette. left thereon is likely to drop down therefrom and cause a fire. Ash trays of the stand type are only variations of conventional ash trays, so that such problems as extinguishing the lighted cigar or cigarette and the inconvenience of cleaning them are left unsolved.

The present invention is intended to eliminate the abovementioned drawbacks and problems'by improv ing conventional ash trays. i

Accordingly, an object of-the present invention .is to provide a container capable. of automatically extinguishing a-lighted cigar or cigarette.

Another object of the present'invention' is to provide a container in which the lighted cigar orcigarette can be completely extinguishedby a fire-extinguishing liquid such as water contained therein. a

A further object of the'present invention is to provide a container 1 capable of automatically indicating, whether or not the the fire extinguishing-liquid is contained in an adequate volume. a

A further object of the present invention is to provide acontainer permittingcigar or cigarettevbutts piled therein to be simply removed therefrom.

The accompanying drawings show some of the preferred embodiments of the present invention, in which:

F IG. 1 is an elevational front view of a first embodiment of the present invention, I

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the same embodiment as shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line III III of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a second embodiment of the present invention in which FIG. 4 is a plan view thereof and FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line V V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing the third embodiment of a present invention;

FIGS. 7 through are perspective views of floating members of the present invention, in which FIGS. 7, 8 and 10 show sectional views thereof respectively; and

FIG. 11 is a view of a central section through the inner lid.

In the drawings numeral 1 represents an outer lid having a outwardly flared rim, numeral 2 an inner lid enabling a lighted cigar or cigarette to be automatically extinguished, numberal 3 a container containing such fireextinguishing liquid as water therein and numeral 4 a floating member.

We will now describe in detail the first embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 1 through 3. The outer lid 1 having the flared rim is detachably fitted in the container 3 in which the fireextinguishing liquid such as water is contained, and the inner lid 2, which is prevented by an inner ring-shaped projection la of the upper lid 1 from getting out of place, is urged upwardly by the floating member 4.

.2 The member 2 has a convex surface on which are provided several grooves 2a for holding the lighted cigar orcigarette and whose circumference is partially cut away to leave four lugs 2b engaging the ring-shaped 1 which has a lower specific gravity than that of the fireextinguishing liquid such as water contained in the. con-' tainer. Those shown-in FIGS. 7 through 10 consist of floating portions 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d and mesh portions 5a, 5b, 5c, 4d, said floating portions being made hollow so as to be lighter in specific gravity than the fire-extin- 1 guishing liquid.

' We will now describe the second embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The parts of the second embodiment which correspond to the inner lid 2 and the floating member 4 of the first embodiment as shown in FIG. 1 are arranged to be easily detached from the container. Namely, the outer lid is formed integral with the container to form a container 3a with a circumferential projection la of the container 3a which is provided with notches lb through which the inner'lid 2 in engagement with the floating member 4- can be upwardly removed from the container 3a by letting the four lugs be passed through the notches 1b, respectively.

FIG. 6 shows the third embodiment of the present invention, which is of the stand type. The container 3b which contains the fire extinguishing liquid such as water is cylindrical to accommodate the assembly of the outer lid, the member 2, and the floating inner lid 4 same as those in the first and second embodiments. The

' 'outer lid as shown in FIG. 6 is integral with theinner lid 2, which can be applied to the first andsecond embodiments. I

The floating-member forms an important part of the present invention. Those as shown in FIGS. 7 through 10 are only illustrative and can be varied in shape and structure. As shown in FIGS. 7 through 9, the floating member may be formed by making the floating portions 4a, 4b, 4c and the mesh portions 5a, 5b, 5c individually and then combining them integrally, or making the mesh portions of floating material as shown in FIG. 10, or making the mesh portions and the floating portions of different materials as individual members so as to fulfil their own functions. The materials of which the floating member is formed may, as described above, be those which have lower specific gravity than the fireextinguishing liquid, or those which are made hollow to be lower in specific gravity than the fire-extinguishing liquid. It is preferrable that the material is incombustible.

As shown in FIG. 1 1, provided that a lighted cigarette is left mounted on the groove 2a, the cigarette continues to burn to the length I when it can not hold its balance and drops down at its filtered end through one of the cut-away openings 20 of the the inner lid into the container in which it is automatically extinguished by the fire-extinguishing liquid.

As shown in FIGS. 3, 5 and 6, when a fire-extinguishing liquid such as water is present in the container, the floating member is afloat in the liquid due to its buoy- 3 ancy, but as more and more cigar or cigarette ends accumulate in the floating member, the floating member sinks deeper and deeper, finally coming down to such a position that the underside thereof is contacted with the bottom of the container. As apparent from the above, the container of the present invention provides the following useful effects:

1. Even if the lighted cigar or cigarette is left on the inner lid, it can never cause a fire due to the function of the inner lid.

2. Due to the floating member and the fire-extinguishing liquid such as water contained in the container, one can throw the lighted cigar or cigarette through one of the cut-away openings of the inner lid into the container without rubbing it out on the lid.

3. Due to the floating function of the floating member it will will be apparent if the fire-extinguishing liquid is absent or of insufficient quantity in the container, or the container including the floating and mesh portions should be cleaned as a result of cigar or cigarette butts accumlating in the container.

4. It is simpler to clean the container due to the mesh portions. Accordingly, if the floating member is made of such inexpensive material as enables the floating member to be discarded after being fully used and to be replaced with a new one, it will particularly effective in places where many persons gather, for instance, hotels, theaters and so on.

Though we have described some preferrable embodiments of the present invention, it goes without saying that the present invention is not limited to those as mentioned above and that any variations and modifications which have the same functions and effects as described through the specification can be made in the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes comprising;

a container portion for holding a fire-extinguishing liquid therein;

an annular outer lid mounted on said container and having an open upper end, a flared portion at the 4 outer marginal portion thereof extending outwardly and upwardly from said open end, said open upper end having a radially inner portion partially closing the same;

a cup-shaped floating member adapted to float in said fire extinguishing liquid; and

an inner lid mounted on said floating member and having a plurality of symmetrical cut-away portions at the outer peripheral portion thereof, through which ashes and partially burned cigar and cigarettes are dropped into said floating member, and defining a plurality of lugs between said cut-away portions, said lugs each projecting outward to contact at its upper face the lower face of said radially inner portion of said outer lid and at its lower face the upper rim of said floating member, whereby said floating member is prevented from escaping upward out of said container portion.

2. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner lid is of arched shape and has grooves formed in the form of a lattice on the upper surface thereof.

3. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein there are provided notches in the radially inner portion of said outer lid, each said notch having such a size as to permit a lug of said inner lid to pass there-through.

4. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner lid is formed separately from said floating member on which said inner lid is mounted.

5. A container for ashes and butts of partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner lid is formed integral with said floating member.

6. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said floating member is formed as a cup having mesh portions.

7. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said floating member is made wholly fully of a mesh material. 

1. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes comprising; a container portion for holding a fire-extinguishing liquid therein; an annular outer lid mounted on said container and having an open upper end, a flared portion at the outer marginal portion thereof extending outwardly and upwardly from said open end, said open upper end having a radially inner portion partially closing the same; a cup-shaped floating member adapted to float in said fire extinguishing liquid; and an inner lid mounted on said floating member and having a plurality of symmetrical cut-away portions at the outer peripheral portion thereof, through which ashes and partially burned cigar and cigarettes are dropped into said floating member, and defining a plurality of lugs between said cut-away portions, said lugs each projecting outward to contact at its upper face the lower face of said radially inner portion of said outer lid and at its lower face the upper rim of said floating member, whereby said floating member is prevented from escaping upward out of said container portion.
 2. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner lid is of arched shape and has grooves formed in the form of a lattice on the upper surface thereof.
 3. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein there are provided notches in the radially inner portion of said outer lid, each said notch having such a size as to permit a lug of said inner lid to pass there-through.
 4. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner lid is formed separately from said floating member on which said inner lid is mounted.
 5. A container for ashes and butts of partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said inner lid is formed integral with said floating member.
 6. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherEin said floating member is formed as a cup having mesh portions.
 7. A container for ashes and partially burned cigars and cigarettes as claimed in claim 1 wherein said floating member is made wholly fully of a mesh material. 